Hello from Germany!

I’m doing an Erasmus+ exchange in Germany. I’m staying in a small town called Bargteheide in the region of Schleswig-Holstein. I learned about the Erasmus+ exchanges through my school, as we’ve had several teachers talk about and recommend them. I decided to do an exchange because I wanted to have new experiences.

During the exchange, I’ve studied history and geography independently through the internet. I’ve managed to get my work done efficiently and I’ve managed to stay well motivated.

My experience has been great. I’ve really enjoyed all the fun things we’ve done. One of the coolest things was going on vacation to Pellworm, one of the North Sea islands. I got to climb the island’s lighthouse, which is 41,5 meters tall. The view was incredible. One of the most surprising things was the Halloween party my host family organized. I got to dress up as a witch, go trick-or-treating and sing karaoke. It was lots of fun. I also got to visit Flensburg, a town near the Danish border. I even briefly visited Denmark, albeit only to get food.

I’ve learned a few words of German. I’ve previously taken German in school for 2 years, but I don’t remember much aside from the basics.

I’ve visited Germany before when I was 15, but that time I was only here for 4 days, and I was in Southern Germany in the region of North-Rhine Westphilia.

My host family has been incredible. They’ve all been very kind and understanding, and I really appreciate that.

I haven’t been able to spend much time in school since the region of Schleswig-Holstein had an autumn break for 2 weeks. I was only part of a specific class for a week before the autumn break, after which I was given a list of several different classes I could participate in. Last Friday I participated in an art class, and it was fun.

Instead of getting laptops from the school, a lot of students in Germany bring their iPads to school. The school Wi-Fi requires a temporary password that you can no longer use after a certain period. This is because there are three different schools on the same campus, and having so many students connect to the same Wi-Fi would cause connectivity issues. To deal with this, a lot of students share the internet connection from their phones, and the school has a separate Wi-Fi for the teachers.

I highly recommend becoming an exchange student. Living in a different country and culture can give you incredible new experiences, helping you become more independent and open-minded.

Sonja

Lue lisää Erasmus+ -opiskelijavaihdosta täältä:
http://www.orivedenlukio.fi/opiskelijalle/kansainvalisyys/vaihto-oppilaaksi/